governor romney got 23%. 24% called it a tie. a cnn orc international poll called the debate closer, with 48% saying obama won while 40% picked obama. for more we go to nbc's steve handlesman who's in florida for us. steve, good morning. >> reporter: hi, lynn. thanks. good morning from boca raton, florida. the debate here last night was clearly the most combative so far. though surprising to some, not on the issue of libya. mitt romney was able to make his larger point, his claim that america is weaker now overseas than it was four years ago. mitt romney and barack obama came to their third and final debate tied in national polls, but their tv audience seemed sure to be smaller. baseball's national league playoffs and monday night football got millions of viewers who missed the faceoff on muslim extremists. >> i congratulate him on taking out osama bin laden and going after the leadership in al qaeda. we can't kill our way out of this. >> governor romney, i'm glad you recognize al qaeda is a threat. because a few months ago when